Feminism began and spread in the 1970s and in tandem with a growth of feminist theater and critique. Second wave feminism was focused on the goal of changing interpersonal relationships and cultural values, ideally towards egalitarianism and equality. This concern grew out of response to Left misogyny and began as a grassroots movement in the 1960s. As a fully-fledged political and ideological movement, feminism promoted group development like the National Organization for Women (NOW) – a group devoted towards women’s equality.
Radical feminism theorized female oppression as systematic and condemned patriarchal society of forcing women into the private sphere. Men would be given power in the public sphere. Radical feminism defined gender roles as social constructs which could be changed with a revolutionary culture structure change. Early feminist theater reflected the voice of radical feminism and focused on validating women’s personal experiences. These early feminist theaters also focused on non-traditional, experimental theater and included guerilla tactics and street theater. Women also formed explicitly feminist theater groups, including the Omaha Magic Theater and the Women’s Experimental Theater.
Though a major feminist political goal – the Equal Rights Amendment – failed, feminism continued into the 1980s. White, middle-class female equality was recognized as a political issue, but minority feminism was not on the agenda of mainstream liberal feminism. This decade also saw more mainstream theater recognition of female playwrights, actors, and artists. Ideas of gender and sexuality also began to appear in feminist theater. Experimental feminist theater began to shrink, however, due to internal fractionalization and economic issues. The few experimental feminist theaters that survived were also multicultural or ethnic theaters. The establishment of a committed feminist critique, however, creates potential for the rebirth of experimental feminist theater.
I believe that Trifles would be considered a feminist play, or possibly even radically feminist, because of its commentary on women in the public versus private sphere. Minnie Foster, before marriage, was full of life. Marriage, and her limited role only as a homemaker and housewife, broke her spirit and eventually drove her to kill her husband. Throughout the play Minnie Foster is only recognized as an individual by other women, while the men speak about her in terms of her husband. Female commonality is also expressed with Mrs. Peters’ discussion of her own stillness, and how all women experience some sort of that loss in their societal roles. In some ways, the play also comments on female superiority. The male characters are all written as condescending and inept in what they do, while the women are the characters able to find the actual evidence to convict Minnie. Trifles doesn’t really call for the changing of these roles or that they are socially constructed. Glaspell discusses the hardships of traditional female roles, and how society often overlooks female suffering – visible with Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale discussing welcoming versus empty homes. Homes with children are “livelier”, but women have no free time and must work as both homemakers and mothers. Childless homes do give women free time, but are considered unwelcoming. This idea is lamented later by Mrs. Peters, who recognizes that this is the reason she never visited Minnie Foster and that, had she visited more often, she may have prevented Minnie’s breakdown. The collusion of Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale to protect Minnie from judgment also is an example of female commonality, but is more influential as a commentary on the American justice system at the time. Women did not get a true jury of peers, were given no political power, but were still “married to the law” in the sense that they were still controlled by a justice system that did not fully recognize their rights. The women in Trifles, therefore, take “justice” upon themselves rather than work within a justice system that does not work for them.
Radical feminism theorized female oppression as systematic and condemned patriarchal society of forcing women into the private sphere. Men would be given power in the public sphere. Radical feminism defined gender roles as social constructs which could be changed with a revolutionary culture structure change. Early feminist theater reflected the voice of radical feminism and focused on validating women’s personal experiences. These early feminist theaters also focused on non-traditional, experimental theater and included guerilla tactics and street theater. Women also formed explicitly feminist theater groups, including the Omaha Magic Theater and the Women’s Experimental Theater.
Though a major feminist political goal – the Equal Rights Amendment – failed, feminism continued into the 1980s. White, middle-class female equality was recognized as a political issue, but minority feminism was not on the agenda of mainstream liberal feminism. This decade also saw more mainstream theater recognition of female playwrights, actors, and artists. Ideas of gender and sexuality also began to appear in feminist theater. Experimental feminist theater began to shrink, however, due to internal fractionalization and economic issues. The few experimental feminist theaters that survived were also multicultural or ethnic theaters. The establishment of a committed feminist critique, however, creates potential for the rebirth of experimental feminist theater.
I believe that Trifles would be considered a feminist play, or possibly even radically feminist, because of its commentary on women in the public versus private sphere. Minnie Foster, before marriage, was full of life. Marriage, and her limited role only as a homemaker and housewife, broke her spirit and eventually drove her to kill her husband. Throughout the play Minnie Foster is only recognized as an individual by other women, while the men speak about her in terms of her husband. Female commonality is also expressed with Mrs. Peters’ discussion of her own stillness, and how all women experience some sort of that loss in their societal roles. In some ways, the play also comments on female superiority. The male characters are all written as condescending and inept in what they do, while the women are the characters able to find the actual evidence to convict Minnie. Trifles doesn’t really call for the changing of these roles or that they are socially constructed. Glaspell discusses the hardships of traditional female roles, and how society often overlooks female suffering – visible with Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale discussing welcoming versus empty homes. Homes with children are “livelier”, but women have no free time and must work as both homemakers and mothers. Childless homes do give women free time, but are considered unwelcoming. This idea is lamented later by Mrs. Peters, who recognizes that this is the reason she never visited Minnie Foster and that, had she visited more often, she may have prevented Minnie’s breakdown. The collusion of Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale to protect Minnie from judgment also is an example of female commonality, but is more influential as a commentary on the American justice system at the time. Women did not get a true jury of peers, were given no political power, but were still “married to the law” in the sense that they were still controlled by a justice system that did not fully recognize their rights. The women in Trifles, therefore, take “justice” upon themselves rather than work within a justice system that does not work for them.